If things go according to plan (and they almost always don’t), by the All-Star Game, the Dodgers should have these arms ready for the rotation:
- Yamamoto
- Snell
- Ohtani
- Glasnow
- Sasaki
- Kershaw
- Sheehan
- May
- Gonsolin
- Knack
- Miller
- Wrobleski
I’m no mathematical genius, but that seems to be about a half dozen too many. Now, we don’t know what’s wrong with Tony Gonsolin – we just know that he has been completely shut down from throwing. They tell us that the damage is not structural, so I assume it is inflammation. Gonsolin is a free agent in 2027, while Dustin May is a free agent in 2026. Bobby Miller may need a reset with another organization. Landon Knack also has some market value and has four years of control. Here’s what I see might happen: The Dodgers may trade all four pitchers to four different teams who are looking for starters.
This solves and relieves the “bottleneck” that the Dodgers have. Kyle Hurt, Gavin Stone, Michael Grove, and River Ryan will also be back next year. The Dodgers’ M.O. is to trade for prospects, whether they are pitchers or hitters. Stock up on the farm system and solve the bottleneck at the starting pitcher position. They could trade those four pitchers and never miss a lick. The Mets, Cubs, Tigers, Brewers, and Rangers are but a few teams looking for starting pitching. I think the Dodgers will be sellers at the Trade Deadline.
It should be illegal to deliberately lose a game like last night. I demand a full investigation. Matt Sauer was cannon fodder, and while the rest of the league hits Dylan Cease like a batting practice pitcher, he looked like a Cy Young Candidate against the Dodgers. The highlight of the game is that Conforto got a hit and a walk. Clean up the vomit and tune back in tonight… I’ll be watching both the Dodgers and the Pacers tonight.
BTW, Denzel Clarke made one of the best catches I have ever seen last week as he caught a ball about five feet over what appears to be a nine-foot wall. OMG!
Miller needs to go to the PEN ASAP.
Win today, win the series….
The cavalry is coming…
Not a bad idea.
Go dark for a month then come back a reliever.
I wonder, like Matt, if Bobby Miller can be effective in the pen, or not.
I think he, and Outman, really need a change of scenery and maybe some new voices coaching them. It is what it is.
Send them to the White Sox for some Lou Malnati’s and a Portillos’s dog (no joke, I had the vegan version last time and thought it tasted better than the original!)
There are several players who (hopefully) need to leave next season:
GLASS MAN
KERSHAW
KNACK
BAZOOKA
GROOVE
MILLER
GONSOLIN
MAY
OUTMAN
ROJAS
CONFORTO
MUNCY
TAYLOR
BARNES
SOME OTHERS.
Some have already left, others are about to expire, and with Muncy, I think the Dodgers will exercise the option for one more season.
I think the Dodgers will go for the Japanese 3B, nicknamed the Japanese Aaron Judge, and it’s possible that like Kim, he’ll start the season in the minors, so I think that’s why Muncy will be back.
Unless we win the world Series, Kershaw is coming back.
Ok Kershaw aint coming back…..
I think this is it
Clayton Kershaw should play for the Dodgers AS LONG AS HE EVER WANTS! PERIOD.
He has more than earned it with multiple Cy Youngs and World Series wins, All Star nods, an MVP. He is truly a Dodger living legend.
I see it something like this. I think this includes everyone on the 40 player roster.
This year’s trade deadline will change things of course
LOCKS
C Smith
1B Freeman
IF/OF Edman
SS Mookie
OF Teo
DH Ohtani
SP Glasnow
SP Snell
SP Yamamoto
SP Sasaki
NEAR LOCKS
IF/OF Kim
OF Pages
C Rushing
RP Scott
RP Vesia
RP Dreyer
RP Treinen
SP Stone
SP Ryan
LIKELY
3B Muncy
C Feduccia
SP Kershaw
SP Knack
SP Casparius
SP Wrobleski
SP Sheehan
SP Hurt
RP Philips
RP Graterol
RP Banda
RP Henriquez
QUESTIONS
IF/OF Kiké
IF Rojas
SP May
SP Gonsolin
OF Berroa
OF Ruiz
OF Outman
SP Miller
SP Frasso
RP Grove
P Klein
P Diaz
NOT LIKELY
OF Conforto
RP Kopech
RP Yates
RP Garcia
RP Trivino
P Sauer
P Davis
Glasnow has 3 years left on his deal after this season. He is not going anywhere. Kersh, May, Rojas, Muncy, Conforto, are all free agents. Barnes and Taylor are already gone. Grove is not a free agent until 2029, Knack 2031, Graterol 2027, Outman 2030, Gonsolin 2027, Miller 2030. Grove is on the IL, so is Graterol, doesn’t mean those guys won’t be or cannot be traded.
Pretty sure the team has a $10m option on Max, so he may be sticking around.
There is no heir apparent for 3B, though Alex Freeland could be an option. Guys like Emil Morales and Jeondry Vargas are still a few years away.
I still like the idea that Rushing and/or Smith could be trained at 3B. Plenty of catchers have made the move. (For some reason I think they might even field the position bette than Max does!)
Mark, the Dodger game is at 4:10 ET.
Tuesday scores
Albuquerque 15, Oklahoma City 2 (8 innings)
Springfield 8, Tulsa 3
Wisconsin 10, Great Lakes 3
Inland Empire 7, Rancho Cucamonga 5
Wednesday scores
11:05 a.m. PT: Oklahoma City (Landon Knack) at Albuquerque (Bradley Blalock)
4:05 p.m.: Great Lakes (Eriq Swan) vs. Wisconsin (Tyson Hardin)
5:05 p.m.: Tulsa (Chris Campos) at Springfield (Brycen Mautz)
6:35 p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (Logan Tabeling) at Inland Empire (Brandon Dufault)
For more detailed recaps,stats,schedules, daily standings and box scores for Dodger minor league teams go to the top of this page and cIick on MINOR LEAGUE AFFLIATES.
Should come as no surprise;
Based on an anonymous poll of more than 100 big leaguers by The Athletic, the A’s are the most disliked franchise in the entire MLB.
The outlet asked which franchises have good and bad reputations among players. The Dodgers overwhelmingly came out on top, with 82 of the 126 total responses listing them among the teams with a good reputation. No players said they have a bad one.
The Athletics, on the other hand, received zero votes for good reputation and a league-high 39 votes for a bad reputation.
Its the best organization in sports…
4:10 PM ET
Dodgers (40-28)
Padres (38-28)
SP Randy Vasquez R
3-4 3.69 ERA
SP Ben Casparius ( opener)
4-1 2.93 ERA
Confirmed Lineup
DH S. Ohtani L
SS Mookie Betts R
1B F. Freeman L
C Will Smith R
RF T. Hernandez R
3B Max Muncy L
CF Andy Pages R
LF M. Conforto L
2B Hyeseong Kim L
67° Wind 8 mph Out
Jorge raises an interesting question. Of this year’s team, who will be gone next year? Including everyone on the 40 man roster?
Rojas
Maybe Muncy
Sauer
Yates
Trivino
May
Kopech
Davis
Garcia
Knack
Conforto
If you wait until tonight, you will miss the Dodger game, it is on this afternoon. Rushing should go back to AAA, play every day and they should bring up Feduccia who is a pure backup catcher. Rushing is overmatched right now. Matt Chapman will miss the Dodger series. He was placed on the 10-day IL today. Casparius is going to start tonight’s game with Wrobo, if he can do it, taking down the bulk innings.
I had not looked at the schedule. This is great!
They have Rushing leading the Game Planning right now. He is right in the thick of learning how to do the play calling. He will hit, but this is more important.
R.I.P. Brian Wilson.
He walked the fine line between genius and insanity, but his music will endure forever.
They went to Hawthorne High School. They were in the same league as the school I went to Mira Costa in Manhattan Beach. Back in the day, I was more of a Beach Boy fan than the Beatles. One of their tunes was written by Charles Manson, who struck up a friendship with the drummer, Dennis Wilson. They changed the title and did some rearranging. The writing was credited to Dennis, and it was recorded as the B side to Bluebirds Over the Mountain. It was originally titled, Cease to Exist and retitled Never Learn Not to Love.
Fangraphs lists the following as free agents in ’26: Conforto, Yates, Kershaw, Kike, Rojas, Garcia, Kopech, and May. I wouldn’t be surprised if all were gone next season. Kike is 34 and is really only so-so at this point and the Dodgers have younger guys like Kim and Edman who play everywhere. Same with Rojas. Yates is not that guy any more. Kershaw may retire. Garcia is filler. The interesting guys are May and Kopech. I think there is a chance that both return.
Muncy and Vesia both have inexpensive team options for ’26 and I think both are exercised.
Phillips, Gonsolin, and Graterol all have 1 more year of arb eligibility. Phillips won’t be able to pitch next year and they will non-tender him, but may bring him back on a team friendly 2 year deal. Gonsolin and Graterol have been unavailable for most of their tenure. Will they be non-tendered?
There are a couple of guys who need a change of scenery – Miller and Outman.
Why do you believe Yates is not that guy anymore?
Over reliance on ERA?
He’s K’ing more batters than ever – 38%
Has a better walk rate than his career average – 8%
His FIP is excellent – 21% better than league average
His xFIP is elite – 42% better than league average.
It’s a .380 BABIP and 17% HR/FB rate that are to “blame” for the mediocre ERA. And those two metrics are VERY unreliable in small samples.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said that Freeman is in Wednesday’s lineup in San Diego in spite of a quad injury suffered Tuesday, Fabian Ardaya of The Athletic reports.
“The injury likely means Freeman will be running at less than 100 percent, but “he’s managing it,” per Roberts. Freeman has played in every game since April 11 for the Dodgers, starting all but two contests over that span. Unless the injury gets worse, it sounds like Freeman will continue trying to play through it”.
Roberts says that Kim has a sore elbow.
If he winds up on the IL, would Freeland be called up?
There’s an image circulating of Machado getting angry at the umpire for the strikeout, and where Smith supposedly responded to him… It’s obviously a joke or a meme (I don’t know how to say it in English)
He said “that was outside” I told him “so is your shot at ever winning the division”
They’re also criticizing Smith for responding that the first game of the series was just “another June game” since he’s supposed to not care about playing against those sons of bitches… And it’s true, they don’t matter!
Conforto !
Pages may have saved the game for us! What a throw!
From MLBTR:
Have people finally stopped calling for the Dodgers to get a 3B?
Ha, I still get the odd question here and there in chats at the site asking what it’d take for the Dodgers to get Nolan Arenado. I’m not sure whether readers are hung up on name value, Max Muncy’s slow start, a general desire for change or some combination of the above, but Muncy has been on an absolute tear for about two months now. Dating back to mid-April, he’s slashed .250/.394/.467 with an 18% walk rate against an 18.5% strikeout rate. Whether it’s the glasses or a change in approach, it’s worked. Muncy punched out at a wildly uncharacteristic 42.9% through April 13 and has basically been vintage Muncy since.
If you want to shrink the sample down further, he has an outrageous .300/.421/.589 slash — 79% better than average, per wRC+ — with more walks than strikeouts in his past 114 plate appearances dating back to May 8. That 179 wRC+ ranks ninth in all of baseball since May 8, and the only third basemen in MLB with more WAR in that span are Jose Ramirez and Manny Machado. That’s pretty good company!
I don’t really get the fascination with Arenado, who’s been a flat-out bad hitter in 2025 after two pedestrian years at the plate in 2023-24. If you’d told me before the season that the Cardinals would improbably be in the playoff hunt come mid-June, I’d have assumed Arenado was enjoying a resurgent season — but they’re winning despite him, not because of him.
Machado is not good company!
ok ! we don’t want arenado. what we want is the Vesia we just watched! the Scott we saw today! Casparius. Kopech? it’s coming! Will Smith? the best! Now i would still take Duran! Kike is really struggling! Teo? he needed that! Dryer may need a 10 day break! … is it possible Casparius becomes a starter for a while? might not be such a bad thing! .. need to kick the giants -ss this weekend! May needs to pick it up ! As far as i’m concerned, he’s pitching for a job next season! He needs to throw competitive pitches! not “sweepers” 3 feet off the plate! … good series win!
Michael Conforto, I never doubted you….
So much to like in today’s win, starting with Caparius’s solid start. Under the rules, Trivino may have been credited for the W with one cleaning inning of work, but Casparius’s four innings, allowing one run, was more important and set the tone. Seven relievers allowed only one hit over the final 5 innings.
Other stuff to like:
–In addition to Conforto, Teo came to life with his bomb.
–Pages’s arm from centerfield. (I need to find a replay!) And Smith’s tag.
–Shohei’s aggressive triple to set up the insurance run.
–Vesia, as closer, striking out the side.
Ahhh…
Don’t forget Banda getting the last two outs with the bases loaded, no runs scored.
Good point. Banda was clutch..
And now it’s reported by mlb.com’s Sonja Chen that Casparius is joining the rotation. Certainly he’s earned it.
This may be temporary–others due back from injury–but Casparius might hold on to the job. He doesn’t have May’s stuff, but he never seems erratic. (Casparius didn’t make Mark’s list of a dozen SPs that could be available, which again illustrates the Dodgers’ depth. )
In non-Dodger pitching news, two guys threw complete games today: The Mets’ Peterson and the Braves’ Schwellenbach. Will any Dodger throw a complete game this season?
In other Dodger pitching news, Bobby Miller continues to frustrate. Yes, I think it’s time for a change of scenery.
While Mark wants the Dodgers to sell from its pitching surplus for (I presume) more prospects, I’m still eager to upgrade the present lineup with either Mullins or Duran or ???
Still think the Dodgers and Orioles match up really well for a deal, either simple or complex.
There’s speculation that the surprisingly swooning D’backs could be sellers, but I don’t see them selling to a division rival.
If Conforto hits the way the Dodgers hoped he would when they signed him, the Dodgers don’t need anyone.
That was always the plan….
But based on what we’ve seen so far, I’d argue that both Duran and Mullins would be upgrades.
While I’d be happy if Outman could get a fresh start elsewhere, I’d be reluctant to trade him. He’s an injury away from being called up again.
Orioles are absolutely target for trading a few pitchers for prospects. NL West teams will never trade anyone to us unless they have a broken pitching arm.
Shout out to Banda who Mark was implying could get DFA just a few weeks ago. LOL.
Agree, he looks good.
Kopech will be fine just dialing it in…
We really need Treinen to come back in Aug. I beleive he will
If he had kept on the path he was on, he would have been DFA’ed by now.
In March, April, and May, his WHIP was over 1.40.
In June, it dropped to 0.35. He adapted and lived.
Good day for you huh Mark?
I won some cash on Indy.
YOu going to game 4?
Probably not. Nosebleeds are $785 to $1,200.00
B4 COVID, we had six excellent seats. At my age, I enjoy watching on the 85-inch TV too much. 😉
I would go for the right price.
Understood. Looked like a great atmosphere.
It’s a great place to watch a game. I have had my share.
There were about a 1,000 protesters outside that slowed traffic in and out but it was peaceful.
Mostly peaceful like the Summer of Love; right 🙂
Nice win!!! Connecticut’s finest Ben Casparius comes through again “Big time”.
DAWG
Wednesday scores
Oklahoma City 5, Albuquerque 4
Springfield 3, Tulsa 0
Great Lakes 4, Wisconsin 2
Rancho Cucamonga 11, Inland Empire 6
ACL Dodgers 3, ACL White Sox 1
Thursday scores
4:05 p.m. PT: Great Lakes (Luke Fox) vs. Wisconsin (Jaron DeBerry)
5:05 p.m.: Tulsa (Patrick Copen) at Springfield (Ixan Henderson)
5:35 p.m.: Oklahoma City (Emmet Sheehan) at Albuquerque (Gabriel Hughes)
6:35 p.m.: Rancho Cucamonga (Christian Zazueta) at Inland Empire (Yeferson Vargas)
This might be Emmet Sheehan’s last rehab start before he joins the Dodger’s rotation next week.
For more detailed recaps,stats,schedules, daily standings and box scores for Dodger minor league teams go to the top of this page and cIick on MINOR LEAGUE AFFLIATES.
Out in OKC, Ryan Ward is now hitting to a 1.010 OPS with a .321 BA, 17 HRs and an on-base percentage of .405.
He’s also stolen ten bases in 12 tries.
What would it take for the Dodgers to give him a chance?
A. Being on the 40-man roster would be a start. B. Catastrophic accident or injury to one of their outfielders or Freddie. Casparius is being moved to the starting rotation.
No publication or scouting service has ever mentioned Ryan Ward as a prospect. He has never been ranked in the Top 30 or Top 100 of anything. He was drafted in 2019 in the 8th round, which isn’t too promising in regards to draft status.
My guess is that the Dodgers know enough about him from his four full minor league seasons (excluding 2020) to conclude that he just doesn’t have what it takes to hit MLB pitching. He strikes out a lot & that’s against minor league pitching, so only imagine that would be a higher rate against legit MLB pitchers.
He also plays 1st & OF. 1B is locked up by Freeman, so that leaves OF, but I’m sure the Dodgers just assume they’d have better production from other guys.
Seems like players like this normally get called up once in there career almost as a nice gesture sometimes & then never heard of again.
We don’t see the fine details, but the Dodgers do. I have to imagine they are looking at the competition when seeing these stats. Who is he hitting HR’s off of? A legit prospect or a career minor leaguer? A breaking ball or a fast ball down the middle? I think there are some in-depth stats that organizations look at to really get the answers they need. This is why I always felt Outman was not as good as so many fans thought he was. I always wondered if maybe these stats are off, below-average pitching in the major leagues & the Dodgers knew that.
Everybody in the league has passed on him multiple times. The market determines the value of goods.
https://x.com/dodger_daily/status/1933364504332530175
He’s on the Radar…. coming to MLB… maybe this year!
Well the rockies finally beat the giants last night! beautiful stadium there in colorado, shame they field such a bad team! i often wonder how a manager can get fired up for a game when your team is so bad. They say teach the young players, and hope the veterans play well enough to get traded!! They ain’t got much to trade! ……. Giants tonight! Logan Webb , always a threat on the mound. But Yamamoto seems poised to to outshine him tonight. Giants offense is ok, but their pitching is very good! I believe the dodgers avoid Robbie Ray this series. He’s been great for the giants. …. Well Conforto seems to keep showing signs of breaking thru. For the team’s sake, i hope he breaks through, or totally breaks so they can decide what to do with him before the deadline. His power would really push their offense over the top! … Maybe the pitching is starting to show signs of getting healthy. Getting Snell back along with Glasnow would be huge! .. That would allow Ben to go back to the pen, where he’s invaluable! … No structural damage for Gonsolin? What is it then?…… Dustin May needs a strong start this weekend! In my opinion, (for what it’s worth). he’s been more of a thrower than a pitcher…….. Look for Clayton to make another good start this weekend. …. Don’t you just love beating machado and tatis?? Add some cold beer and it’s a great day!!!